RALEIGH, N.C. — Dabo Swinney knows all about rough nights in Raleigh, so it was understandable that he wasn't surprised that N.C. State gave his team a tussle Thursday night.

"That's a good football team," Swinney said. "Those boys are going to win a lot of games this year. This was a tough, hard-fought game."

That it was.

Tajh Boyd threw two touchdown passes to Martavis Bryant as No. 3 Clemson rallied from an early deficit to remain unbeaten with a 26-14 victory against N.C. State in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

In the Tigers' last trip to N.C. State two years ago, the then-7th ranked Tigers were upset 37-13 by an unranked Wolfpack.

It appeared Thursday night's game could provide another upset – at least until the Tigers awakened.

Boyd connected with Bryant for a 30-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, then from 15 yards out early in the fourth as the Tigers improved to 3-0 in front of a sold-out crowd of 57,583 at Carter-Finley Stadium and a national television audience.

The touchdown tosses to Bryant, which tied Boyd with former Florida State standout Chris Wienke for second place on the ACC's all-time list with 79, gave Clemson a 26-7 lead with 11:27 remaining.

Clemson then salted the victory away by simply allowing the N.C. State offense to run some clock. The Wolfpack converted four fourth-downs on a 23-play, 84-yard drive late in the game, but the 7:34 required to score effectively sealed the Tigers' triumph.

Clemson got an 11-yard touchdown toss from Boyd to Sam Cooper late in the first half for a 13-7 halftime edge, but wore N.C. State down in the final half.

"We played smarter, we got the running game going, Tajh Boyd got going and made some big plays in the passing game," Swinney said. "We converted on them in the second half and that was the difference in the game."

Clemson's defense was impressive for the most part, limiting State to 378 total yards and allowing the Wolfpack to convert on just 3-of-16 third-down plays.

"Our offense has gotten a lot of the headlines," Swinney said. "But I love our defense."

Arkansas (3-0) at Rutgers (2-1), 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN: Arkansas can match its win total from 2012 in the final game before the SEC slate gets underway. Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams are each averaging more than 130 yards rushing for the Razorbacks.
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North Carolina (1-1, 0-0) at Georgia Tech (2-1, 1-0), noon ET, ESPN: Already possessing a conference win, Georgia Tech can jump out to an even bigger lead in the Coastal Division, putting pressure on other contenders.
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Kansas State (2-1) at Texas (1-2), 8 p.m. ET, ABC: Mack Brown's seat continues to get hotter, but he's been preaching a potential run in the Big 12. A loss in the conference opener wouldn't be a good start.
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West Virginia (2-1) at Maryland (3-0) (in Baltimore), 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU: The Terps are 3-0, but haven't beaten anybody worthwhile. A win against rival West Virginia might turn some heads throughout the country. The Mountaineers have won seven in a row in the series.
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Utah (2-1) at BYU (1-1), 10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN2: Utah has won three in a row in the "Holy War" series, but is coming off a tough OT loss to Oregon State. After beating Texas, BYU had two week to prepare for their bitter rivals.
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Tennessee (2-1) at No. 18 Florida (1-1), 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS: The Gators had a bye week following their rough loss to Miami and they kick off their SEC schedule looking to regain some momentum against a Tennessee team that was mauled by Oregon last week.
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Auburn (3-0, 1-0) at No. 7 LSU (3-0, 0-0), 7:45 p.m. ET, ESPN: Auburn has started fast with three solid wins and head to Baton Rouge to take on an LSU team that many have overlooked in the SEC. LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger has lit it up, throwing nine touchdowns with no interceptions.
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No. 23 Arizona State (2-0) at No. 5 Stanford (2-0), 7 p.m. ET, FOX: The Sun Devils' bizarre win over Wisconsin vaulted them into the top 25, but are immediately greeted by the Cardinal. Stanford looked sleepy at times last week against Army, and face their first real test here.
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No. 24 Michigan State (3-0) at No. 21 Notre Dame (2-1), 3:30 p.m. ET, NBC: Finally with a settled quarterback situation, the Spartans look to exact revenge on Notre Dame, which has won the last two in the series. A loss would be big trouble for Notre Dame with tough games against Oklahoma and Arizona State coming up.
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Linebackers Stephone Anthony and Spencer Shuey led the Tigers with 14 and 11 tackles, respectively, and defensive end Vic Beasley continuing his inspired play against N.C. State. Beasley has 13 career sacks, and six of them have come against N.C. State, including three Thursday night.

"He's a guy who has gotten better and better," Swinney said. "He's off to a great start this year. He's all over the field."

Clemson placekicker Chandler Catanzaro scored nine points – becoming the program's all-time leading scorer in the process – and his two early field goals from 49 and 45 yards pushed Clemson to a 6-0 advantage.

But N.C. State (2-1), which had been unimpressive in wins against Louisiana Tech and Richmond, drove 92 yards in just seven plays to take a 7-6 lead with 11:03 left in the first half on a 21-yard run by Shadrack Thornton.

The Wolfpack, however, continually shot themselves in the foot. Receiver Bryan Underwood had two potential touchdown runs called back when it was ruled he'd stepped out of bounds – much to the chagrin of the home crowd – and the team amassed nine penalties for 57 yards that stymied the majority of its drives.

But when found Cooper for a touchdown just before the half, the Tigers appeared to get untracked.

Boyd finished 24-of-37 for 244 yards and three scores. Sammy Watkins didn't find the end zone, but still led all receivers with 10 catches for 96 yards.

Still, Swinney didn't leave entirely happy. Howard ran out of bounds to stop the clock in the final minute and Isaiah Battle was ejected from the game for committing a personal foul, also in the final minute.

"I was really disappointed down the stretch," Swinney said. "That's not Clemson. I'm disappointed in that."

Louisville Cardinals running back Senorise Perry (32) leaps offensive linesman John Miller (70) to run the ball against the FIU Golden Panthers during the first quarter of play at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
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Fresno State Bulldogs running back Malique Micenheimer (22) holds the milk can and celebrates with teammates after the Bulldogs defeated the Boise State Broncos 41-40 at Bulldog Stadium.
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